Keeping Our Urban Forest Healthy

Posted on July 25, 2015

As our city grows, we need to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect our urban forest. To do this, I introduced legislation to protect trees nearbillboards and other general advertisements, which are often vulnerable to being mutilated to improve viewing of the advertisements. While most advertising companies respect our street trees, others don’t. By requiring anyone conducting tree maintenance within 150 feet of a billboard to get a permit, we can ensure that our street trees aren’t butchered in the name of maintaining billboard visibility. The legislation also strengthens existing requirements to protect street trees during construction by requiring a tree protection plan to be submitted to Public Works prior to the commencement of construction. This is a simple and straightforward requirement and will help ensure that the aesthetic and environmental benefits of our urban forest are protected. You can read more about this legislation here.